"THE POLITICAL PULSE: A News Beat on the Edge of Chaos." Get down on it this Friday (2/28/25) with guests political strategist Antjuan Seawright, news reporter Michael Pope, and poet Dorri C. Scott.

Friday Power Lunch Feb. 28, 2025 at 12 PM ET. Get your back up off the wall and join in the conversation.

February 28, 2025

THE POLITICAL PULSE: A News Beat on the Edge of Chaos

Episode 9: (Show 201) February 28, 2025 at 12 PM ET

We dance into the room on Friday, February 28, 2025, to Kool & The Gang’s 1981 hit “Get Down On It” — “How are you gonna do it if you really don't wanna dance by standing on the wall? Get your back up off the wall! You gotta get on the groove.” Across the country, people are saying now is the time to act up and get into the groove every day to shine the light on injustice and the villains delivering pain and harm to our neighbors and democracy. You can’t stand back, you need to join in.

We are getting down with a great show titled: "THE POLITICAL PULSE: A News Beat on the Edge of Chaos." Not registered yet? Go here.

LET'S TALK ABOUT OUR FABULOUS GUESTS

Antjuan Seawright, Democratic political strategist and founder of Blueprint Strategy LLC and a senior visiting fellow at Third Way. Follow him on X, aka Twitter @antjuamsea. Michael Pope, a long-time reporter on Virginia Politics hosts his new podcast, Virginia Press Room, and finally, Poet Dorri Scott, who will move us from Black History to Women’s History Month.

Antjuan Seawright, Founder & CEO Blueprint Strategy LLC

NC senior chair adviser Antjuan Seawright joins Rev. Al Sharpton to discuss the DNC Convention. We will deliver a “message of contrast.” Watch here.

Antjuan Seawright is the founder and CEO of Blueprint Strategy LLC, a public relations, advertising, and political consulting firm based in South Carolina. He has led many extensive grassroots and strategic efforts for political clients at the national, state, and local level. He has advised campaigns for Governors, US Senate, US Congress, State Legislature and other down ballot races. He advised the 2008 and 2016 Presidential Campaigns for Hillary Clinton. He has advised as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), South Carolina Democratic Party, Georgia State Democratic Party, New York State Democratic Party and the South Carolina State Senate Democratic Caucus and Protecting Our Vote (Democratic Super PAC). He continues to serve as Senior Advisor to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). He is also a Senior Visiting Fellow at Third Way.

Antjuan’s hard-hitting political ads confront MAGA’s radical agenda head on. We are looking forward to welcoming Antjuan to the room for straight talk about how Democrats can rise to meet this moment and burst the media bubble to reach more Americans.

Michael Pope, host of The Virginia Press Room

You may know our friend Michael Pope from Pod Virginia or the numerous stories he covers for Virginia Public Media. He is currently hosting The Virginia Press Room, a collaborative project of VPM and Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) launched late last year. Michael is well known for his behind the scenes coverage of the Virginia General Assembly, so we’ll ask for his biggest takeaways and surprises from this year’s session.

We are also curious to know his thoughts on the chaos of the Trump Regime and what it means for Virginia. We’ll ask him to connect the dots to help us understand how national politics will factor into our elections this fall.

Dorri C. Scott, author, poet, and research scholar advocate

Poet Dorri Scott is a best-selling author and Founder/Publisher of Virginia WOMAN Magazine. An Adjunct Professor, she is a Clinical Social Worker, Certified Mediator, and Family-Parent Coach in private practice. Dorri is pursuing a Doctorate in women’s studies and is researching the impact of book banning on youth. Dorri is going to share her research on censorship and the erasure of Black History and Women's History under MAGA.

Dorri is part of the team that produced the documentary “Banned Together” - you can search for a film screening near you here.

The film pulls back the curtain on two of the most controversial issues in America today: book bans and curriculum censorship in public schools. Banned Together follows three students and their adult allies as they fight to reinstate 97 books suddenly pulled from their school libraries. As they evolve from local to national activists – meeting with bestselling/banned authors, politicians, Constitutional experts, and more – the film reveals the dark forces behind the accelerating wave of book bans in the U.S.

George Orwell wrote in his classic book "1984": “Those who control the present, control the past, and those who control the past control the future.” The power of reading and writing, recording history, is powerful to self-identify and our place in the world. The attacks on diversity and the purging of minorities, women, and the LBGTQ community are ultimately trying to control our story by deleting us from the history books. We look forward to discussing with Dorri the importance of fighting back against any type of censorship and book banning.

Another fantastic show that brings us together in community to hear about top issues of the day and then go forth to act in solidarity. Participation is the name of the game.

Let’s get down on it!

Looking forward to seeing you in the room,

BIG MIC

Katherine

Thanks for reading Friday Power Lunch! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.